Harvesting visible light for enhanced catalytic degradation of wastewater using TiO₂@Fe₃O₄ embedded on two dimensional reduced graphene oxide nanosheets

Carbon-integrated binary metal oxide semiconductors have gained prominence in the last decade as a better material for photocatalytic wastewater treatment technology. In this regard, this research describes the investigation of the binary metal oxide TiO₂@Fe₃O₄ embedded on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheets synthesized through a combination of sol-gel, chemical precipitation, and Hummer's processes. Besides, the catalyst is applied for the photocatalytic degradation of organic chlorophenol pollutants. The characterized diffraction results showed the peak broadening of the rGO-TiO₂@Fe₃O₄ composite formed with tetragonal and cubic structures having small crystallite sizes. The TEM observation shows an enormous miniature of TiO₂@Fe₃O₄ nanospheres spread on the folded 2D-rGO nanosheets with a large BET surface area. The XPS result holds the mixed phases of Fe₃O₄ and Fe₂O₃. Finally, the catalyst demonstrated a low band gap with extended light absorption towards visible light irradiation. The synergistic interactions between Fe³⁺ and Fe²⁺ improved the visible light activity due to the incorporation of rGO, and also possessed good recycling capacity. The increased mobility of electrons at the interfaces of TiO₂ and Fe₃O₄ due to the mixing of rGO results in the separation of charge carriers by elevating the photocatalytic degradation efficiency of chlorophenol.